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Microsoft to end support for their consumer-side HoloLens Headset by 2028 while deciding to bring Windows 11 to Meta's Quest 3+

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In February 2022, Microsoft’s Alex Kipman responded to an Insider report that suggested the HoloLens division was a mess, and that a HoloLens 3 might have been canceled, saying “Don’t believe what you read on the internet.” The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in January that over 70 Microsoft employees on the HoloLens team had left the company in 2021, with more than 40 joining Meta.

Just prior to two reports noted above, Microsoft was turning to a joint venture with Samsung in December 2021. Then in Patently Apple posted an IP report showing that Microsoft was pursuing an XR Headset design closer to the rumored Apple Vision Pro with an Apple Vision Pro copycat feature for Eyesight.

Then in early August, The Elec reported that that Samsung Display has agreed to supply micro-OLED display panels  for Microsoft's display panels for their next-gen Mixed Reality devices. Microsoft was also switching focus from designing their headset focused on the so-call "Metaverse," to a strategy closer to Apple Vision Pro that provides large virtual displays allowing users to enjoy content like movies and Xbox games.

Late yesterday a report by UploadVR claimed that HoloLens 2 will officially continue to receive "updates to address critical security issues and software regressions" until December 31 2027. As soon as 2028 starts, software support for HoloLens 2 will end.

While HoloLens 2 is being discontinued, Microsoft tells UploadVR it remains "fully committed" to the militarized HoloLens IVAS.

The US Army plans to run a company-level operational test of it in early 2025, ahead of a plan to decide whether to enter full-scale production by late 2025.

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In the general enterprise space, however, Microsoft is no longer a hardware player. Instead, its new strategy revolves around its partnership with Meta which was announced at the Meta Connect event last week.

Our September 25th report noted that "Meta revealed at Connect today that it’s working with Microsoft to bring its Quest platform better wireless pairing with Windows 11 PCs, aiming to make using a PC with Quest a more seamless experience.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on stage that "Soon you’re going to be able to easily connect to any Windows 11 PC. You just look at keyboard and it will start pairing." It will also support multiple virtual displays, and make Quest more of a “natural extension of your PC” (see the screenshot from last week's event below regarding Windows 11 on Quest 3).  

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The HoloLens will remain alive and well should the U.S. Military agree to continue with the headset for the battlefield.

On the consumer side of the market, collaborating with Meta to get Windows 11 on VR headsets is a quick way to counter Vision Pro's ability to work with macOS in multiple windows.

At the end of the day, the jury is still out as to Microsoft's future plans addressing the eyewear market overall that will extend through to smartglasses. Apple Vision Pro's approach to the consumer market definitely put a bullet in the head of the HoloLens project for consumers in the blink of an eye.

Yet that doesn't mean that Microsoft won't reinvent their eyewear at some point in the future nor stop their work with Samsung. In the shorter-term, if the Meta collaboration is successful, Microsoft could extend that approach with other XR Headset OEMs in the future to extend their Windows brand to counter Vision Pro.

While we're on the topic of Microsoft, the company has made Office 365 2024 available on Macs as of October 1, 2024.  

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